Programs

Heel To Toe Club

The IMT Des Moines Marathon is celebrating 19 years of running! To reward our athletes that come back year after year, we have created the Heel to Toe Club for athletes who have participated in the IMT Des Moines Marathon & Half Marathon, MercyOne 5-Mile Run, Bankers Trust Marathon Relay, or Principal 5K Road Race with us over the past 3, 5, 10, 15 and even all 19 years. Click here.

Unified Pairing

Partner your 5K registration with Special Olympics Iowa Unified Pairing program. This is an opportunity for IMT Des Moines Marathon athletes to “partner up” with a Special Olympic athlete and participate together in the Principal 5K Road Race. You will have the option when you register for the 5K Road Race to select that you are interested in participating in the Unified Pairing program. Meet your unified paired athlete before the race, and compete in the 5K Road Race together. Click here.

Keeping Pace Podcast

Join us each month for Keeping Pace powered by the IMT Des Moines Marathon. Emery Songer and IMT Des Moines Marathon Race Director, Chris Burch, talk about ways to properly prepare for race day. Each month they are joined in the studio by special guests with the latest information on how to properly train for the race, segments highlighting charity partners, and how you can run for a cause, as well as topical information from the event sponsors. Downloading the podcast and listening in each month is free. Take us on your next run. Click here.

Bricklayer Bill

IMT Des Moines Marathon finishers who qualify for the Boston Marathon will have a unique opportunity to ring the Boston Marathon qualifying bell at the Truly Post-Race Block Party. Qualifiers will receive a special gift from the IMT Des Moines Marathon to commemorate their qualifying run featuring Bricklayer Bill.

Keep Picking ‘Em Up

Bill Kennedy won his first Boston Marathon in 1917 and went on to run more than 100 marathons. Prior to that time, his connection to Des Moines was rather short but the story that is shared is intriguing… read more.

The year was 1909. Bill was in Des Moines, Iowa, working on the Des Moines Coliseum. It was towards the end of the project, and Bill was leaning out over the sidewalk, scraping excess mortar from the south wall. “A gust of wind blew him off the roof. He fell five stories. It was a 65-foot fall,” Patrick says. “There was a pedestrian walking right underneath him. Bill landed on him and killed the poor guy. At first, they thought that Bill died, too. Then they went over and saw that he was still breathing. He went to the hospital. He survived.”

Bill didn’t have much to say about the incident. “He didn’t go into how he felt or anything like that,” Patrick says. “The way he put it was, ‘My number wasn’t up that day.’ And the next paragraph he says, ‘After I recovered, I realized I was fit enough to keep running.’ That was pretty much his first concern.” This would be a theme in Bill’s life. No matter how far he fell — literally or figuratively — he would get up. And when he did, his first thought would turn to running. More info.